Continued Terror Alert Israel, an Updated Look Back

 

Yesterday, as of the writing of this article, there were already three stabbing style terror attacks. These continued stabbing attacks are still accompanied by vehicular attacks ramming into crowds of people and often followed by the driver exiting the crashed vehicle and attempting stabbing. There was one who exited, leaping from his vehicle, with a hand axe and seriously injured more people with the axe than he had with his company provided vehicle. That’s right, he worked within Israel, had a decent to good paying job many would love to have and a company car and the trust of his company. In return he attempted to use that company car to murder people and then proceeded to hack at people and we posted the video Reflective Spurs Reactive showing how even after being shot he kept attempting to get to his feet and continued lunging at people trying to injure or murder until he was sufficiently struck preventing his ability to continue. He was rushed to a hospital after being treated and attempted to be and was somewhat stabilized and rushed into emergency surgery but to no avail, if memory serves, as he succumbed to his injuries as did two of his victims. This assault in particular showed how specious the argument is that the Arab terrorism in Israel is driven by racist Israeli policies and treatment, lack of decent employment opportunities, desperation from no future and every possible blame for the terrorism which can be placed at the feet of Israelis generally and Israeli Jews in particular, while the terrorists are given excuses and never to be held responsible for their actions as long as their terrorisms are carried out against Israelis or targeting Jews.

 

There was a rumored story where one of the general terror groups which attacked mostly Western targets and were hunted by the Western intelligence and other security agencies asked Yasser Arafat how he was able to be even excused and blessed by the western nations which were chasing down his people and Arafat responded that the secret was to only target Jews. One might be thought to challenge this statement for its validity as the nations would each protect their citizens, all their citizens including Jews, equally and surely we would be challenged to find any instances where terrorists attacking only a Jewish target were pursued any less than if they had assaulted non-Jews (picture writer smiling at the challenge). We might start with United States Secretary of State John Kerry’s statement that the murders of the cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo and the Kosher market Hyper Cacher were understandable because of the insulting cartoon published by the Charlie Hebdo Magazine and the Hyper Cacher Kosher store on erev Shabbat because there would be mostly Jews in the store. Here are a couple of items which many may not have heard as one was not covered by many news outlets and we found out about it a while after the attacks and the other got some pay and deserves all the coverage it can possibly receive. The kosher Market Hyper Cacher also had many Muslim patrons and also had a hero in one of their workers who hid a number of the Jews doing their shopping by concealing them in the downstairs walk-in freezer turning the thermostat up so they would not freeze and remained outside of the freezer himself in case one of the terrorists came into the downstairs area. His name is Lassana Bathily and he represented the other face of Islam, the face of being a peaceful member of a multicultural community whose religion, as he practices it, is the religion of peace that we all hear about. We covered his heroism in our coverage during the days of horror in France in our article Two Faces of Islam in Charlie Hebdo Attacks, which he tried to humbly put the praise he received off and claim anyone would have done the same; he was so wrong and if only all the world would have done the same in similar circumstances the world would be a far better place for such. The other side has to do with the Charlie Hebdo attack where the terrorists had researched their targets extensively. They allowed the women employees from Charlie Hebdo to all leave unharmed, almost; there was an exception, one female employee whose work was no different than the women allowed to depart, except she was different, so very different. Her name was Elsa Cayat, a Jew, the only female Jew, targeted for her Jewishness, nothing else made her different, she was average height, average weight, pleasant appearance, and did same work but was born a Jew. It mattered not if she attended Synagogue, prayer, studied Torah or even considered herself as a Jewess but since she was born of a Jewish mother and that was all the reason the terrorists required to murder her in cold blood. Imagine the dread and fatalist stark terror she felt knowing why she had been singled out from the rest of the women and just waiting those horrific minutes until the end came for her as it did to the other cartoonists and editors were all executed. Elsa Cayat was only fifty-four and an “incredibly passionate woman” and “brilliant psychoanalyst,” as reputed by friends and family. According to The Independent news service, the Tunisian-born psychiatrist received her medical degree at the age of 21, and was survived by a sole child, a daughter.

 

 

Elsa Cayat was only fifty-four and an “incredibly passionate woman”
and “brilliant psychoanalyst,” as reputed by friends and family.
According to The Independent news service, the Tunisian-born
psychiatrist received her medical degree at the age of 21,
and was survived by a sole child, a daughter.

 

 

Two other examples took place in Argentina; the first was the Israeli Embassy on March 17, 1992, where twenty-nine people were murdered, four Israelis and twenty-five Argentine. Non-fatal injuries included two-hundred-forty-two civilians. The second in took place on July 18, 1994, where the AMIA (Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina) was bombed (see below) and the prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, was subsequently murdered to prevent any of the truth to be made public. The vigilant and dedicated prosecutor was to give testimony the next day before the Argentine Parliament about the eighty-five murdered victims and the over three-hundred injured. His report was rumored to potentially implicate high officials including perhaps a past President and even the sitting President. Prosecutor Nisman was found dead in his apartment and his death was initially reported to have been a suicide. This farce was quickly revealed and refuted but the continuing investigation onto the AIMA bombing had gone cold and retracted evidence while any investigation into Alberto Nisman’s untimely death has also gone absolutely nowhere despite reported rumors claim that he was assassinated by Hezballah or IRGC (Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps) murder squad to stifle the evidence he had pointing the finger at high Iranian involvement, potentially President Rowhani and high IRGC officers, some of which hold high officers in the present government.

 

 

July 18, 1994, where the AMIA (Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina)
was bombed and the prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, was subsequently
murdered to prevent any of the truth to be made public.

 

 

Going back a few years to January 21, 2006 the ordeal of torture and ransom demands in the abusive victimization of Ilan Halimi (pictured below), a young man of twenty-three years, was ignored by the media plus those who did cover story omitted the fact that he was Jewish which may have played a major role in his being targeted. The family’s lawyer, Francis Szpiner, may have described the ordeal and the additional crimes committed in the story about Ilan Halimi when he complained that reports even after his death and obvious torture to extents considered inhuman and sadistic beyond modern sensibilities when he stated, “the silence killed Ilan Halimi and justice has helped to perpetuate this conspiracy of silence, because the public was not told why he was killed.” The Chilling story about what was perpetrated upon this young man simply because he was a Jew and Jews have money was written by Giulio Meotti.

 

 

Silence killed Ilan Halimi and justice has helped
to perpetuate this conspiracy of silence,
because the public was not told why he was killed

 

 

The stories from the corners of the earth are a testimony that anti-Semitism in its raw form or wrapped in the most recent disguises of anti-Zionism and anti-Israelism in politics, reporting, investigating of crimes perpetrated and, the most chilling, remembrance and memory which is particularly short when the victims are Jews. Should an Arab Muslim be handled other than with deference and respect the newspapers and newscasts around the world howl and morn this travesty of justice but a young Jews be tortured for over three weeks and the only reaction from the people hearing his screams was to come to the door of these monsters and request to whip or put cigarettes or try a new and inventive torture before the wretched remains were doused with gasoline and lit on fire as a final tortured manner to end the torment and murder the Jew. Even this he survived and was stumbling in the hope of receiving some assistance, any assistance but there was no sympathy. Had some of the first to come across what had to be a pitying and horrific sight of a mass of flesh barely human in its appearance, but had just one assisted this soul immediately then he may have been saved and nursed back to life. Unfortunately his fate was sealed; this was France, the home of the Vichy.

 

The pictures below are the remains of the bus and some of the aftermath of a suicide bombing where seven people lost their lives and dozens were injured, many quite seriously. This assault could have been far worse but a brave Israeli all but knowingly sacrificed himself and more crucially his body to prevent the bomber from entering the bus forcing them to detonate outside of the bus lessening the fatalities from the incident. This attack, like most of these terrorist strikes, was under reported and faded from the pages that chronicle events of importance. The lives of Jews are still undervalued by their fellow men as the death of a sports star, rock-n-roll singer all deserve more ink for a much longer period as a catharsis appears to be required while the death of Jews is almost the tranquilizer that glazes over the eyes of too many around the world but particularly in Europe. This bus, like Elsa Cayat at Charlie Hebdo, like Hyper Cacher Kosher market, like the AIMA bombing, like Alberto Nisman, like Ilan Halimi and like far too many others in numbers are dizzying that span the extent of human history and even before. This tour bus had been rented by a group of Israelis and instead of taking them to a vacation of sun and fun it was the vehicle utilized by a set of terrorists to ply their twisted trade again upon those innocents who were guilty of one sole characteristic, they were Jews. But this tragedy received scant attention within the week, put to bed with nary a follow-up that we could find about those hospitalized and the rate of their recovery. For far too many this vacation became a victimization brought down upon them by the oldest known hatred perpetrated by man upon mankind and too often for it to be anything but deliberate, the crime of passionate hate brought once again upon the Jewish People. The need for Israel is greatest when the world most desires to deny us the right of having our own nation. It is when the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanction) Movement and too many others, some even Jewish siding with those who would destroy us and them without giving our opposing politics a moments glance. These are the times the Jewish People need an Israel where at least this one place exists where Jews can protect Jews by force of arms if that is what is required.

 

 

Tour Bus Reserved by Jewish Groups Outside Burgas, Bulgarian Airport
After Suicide Bomber Detonated Their Explosives Murdering Seven
Fortunately Blocked From Entering Bus by One Brave Individual
Who Sacrificed Saving Numerous Others Already in the Bus

 

 

Ask yourself where the world would have been had Saddam Hussein had nuclear weapons. Of course we may get the next best thing, the Mullocracy in Iran with Nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them. Ask where would the world have been had Syrian dictator Bashir al-Assad had nuclear bombs instead of barrel bombs to drop upon his own people, well, not so much people as countrymen. His people are the Alevites who are but a small part of the Syrian peoples, as Russia is finding out much to their dismay. Remember that when Israel knocked out Saddam Hussein’s nuclear program which was being aided by the French, the United States stopped weapons purchases for almost a year as that airstrike caused quite an uproar in the Arab world and the United States was placed in a particularly vulnerable spot where the choice was placate the Arabs and short Israel or cover for Israel and going without the next need to placate the Arab world and reap their indignation.

 

The Jews are referred to as the canaries and the world as the coal mine. We Jews are tossed at the enemies of the Western World just as we had done under many the tacticians of many of the empires throughout history, one might remember we saw the rise and fall of many a ruler over all that is worth ruling until their neighbor appeared weak and the Jews were thrown against the battlements and if they were slightly successful then the full assault could begin. Sometimes being wanted for an important purpose is simply another way of defining a potentially foolhardy poking and prodding your intended target, testing intended enemies’ strengths and seeking their weaknesses. Jews might have sacrificed a ram before going into battle but it seems Europeans and the Sultans both had their own way, they sacrificed their Jews. Such an honor I could gladly do without.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Hezballah Cross Border Attack Threatens to Elevate Conflict

 

Two IDF soldiers were killed when each of the vehicles they were patrolling the border road with Lebanon were struck each by an anti-tank rocket. Six other soldiers were injured and have been transported to Ziv Hospital in Tzfat. No information was relayed initially after they were evacuated to Rambam Hospital for treatment. Information released through journalist Rassan Ben Jiddo shortly after 1:00 PM issued the claims the Hezballah took credit for these attacks. There was also news reports claiming mortar fire had erupted along the border. The two IDF soldiers killed were Major Yochai Kalangel and Sgt. Dor Nini pictured below.

 

IDF Soldiers Major Yochai Kalangel and Sgt. Dor Nini killed by Hezballah anti-tank rockets hit in unarmored vehicles on border road

 

After calm returned to the border region, Hezballah made calls for calm after firing at the least six anti-tank rockets at light vehicles which is against the Geneva Conventions though it is doubtful that such violations will be reported by many in the mainstream media as the violations were against Israelis and not perpetrated by Israelis. Hezballah terrorists attacked an IDF post along the border earlier in the day yesterday without reports of injuries or other casualties. During these exchanges of fire a Spanish United Nations peacekeeper was killed. Israeli Channel 2 reported that Hezballah had requested for UNIFIL to inform the Israelis that they had made a request for calm as they were finished firing and now desired to call an end to hostilities before there was any serious response from the Israeli Defense Forces to their instigations.

 

Prime Minister Netanyahu responded to the reports of these attacks upon IDF forces while touring the Sderot which is situated appropriately on the border with Gaza where the Prime Minister related to the damages inflicted by the IDF upon Hamas forces and their infrastructure during this past summer’s conflict between Israel and Hamas in response to their constant cross-border rocket launches and the resultant destruction of the Hamas tunnel systems and other infrastructure disabled or destroyed during the fifty days of fighting noting, “Anyone who tries to challenge us in the north should look at what happened to Hamas, not far from here, which was recently dealt the hardest blow it has received since its creation.”

 

These attacks from Hezballah emanating from the Sheba Farms region, within Syria near the Golan Heights and across Israel’s northern border with Lebanon will eventually lead to another exchange should Hezballah continue their recent escalations. Their claims that today’s attacks were revenge for the air attack by the IAF which struck their positions in southwestern Syria which resulted in six fatalities including claiming the lives of a senior Hezballah commander as well as an Iranian IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps) General, the special military arm from Iran responsible for terror and other attacks throughout the world and the very group which was implicated in the Buenos Aires, Argentina 1994 bombing of the AMIA, Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA; Argentine Israelite Mutual Association) about which Alberto Nisman was the prosecutor recently discovered murdered in his apartment as we reported here and here. The Israeli strike was made to interdict to prevent a serious rocket attack from within southwestern Syria which was being assembled by the Hezballah and IRGC forces at two locations late last week. Hezballah protested the strike referring to it as an unjustified and unprovoked attack on troops which posed no danger to Israel and were simply operating within Syria in defense of the Syrian government of Bashir al-Assad. Iran has also threatened to attack Israel with a thunderous assault like lightening unlike anything Israel has ever seen and that Israel will be completely unable to defend against the attack due to its swiftness and devastating results. The setting up rocket launching positions which were obviously aimed to target Israel and not being targeting any positions within Syria was only prevented from potentially causing serious damages to IDF positions along the Golan Heights or even worse, striking inside Israel in the Galilee where the potential for civilian casualties would be significant thus the immediate and swift response by Israeli jet fighters taking out the launchers and personnel before they were able to launch their rockets. That was what Hezballah and Iran referred to as an unprovoked attack on their personnel who were simply carrying out exercises which were of no threat to Israel.

 

On another front on these fatal attacks on IDF vehicles and personnel, it has been rumored and is being investigated by the IDF that the vehicles struck in yesterday’s attacks were unarmored vehicles which are not for use on the border. There are claims that by mistake unarmored Isuzu dMax jeeps were the issued vehicles and are not outfitted with sufficient armor for border duties. As the vehicles were struck with anti-tank missiles the type of vehicle may not have necessarily saved these soldiers’ lives as even armored vehicles are insufficiently up-armored to resist anti-tank missiles which are designed to penetrate at least a dozen inches of armor plate and some even twice that much armor and lighter vehicles and APCs are usually armored with a maximum of six inches of armor plate equivalent. The difference would be if the vehicles were supposed to be outfitted with the Trophy Active Protection System developed by RAFAEL Armament Development Authority, that would have made a difference. Had the vehicles of any thickness of armor also been a vehicle protected by the Trophy System then whether the vehicle was armored would have been inconsequential as no anti-tank missile would have been able to even reach the vehicle still capable of exploding or doing any serious damage. Prime Minister Netanyahu commented later in the day after being briefed on the extents and numbers of IDF soldiers and young Israelis which the fact that all of these soldiers are also young men who have families and represent the future for Israel and each one lost is a loss felt by the whole nation as the majority of Israelis feel as if we are all family and not merely countrymen. It is because much of the nation as a whole mourns the loss of each and every soldier and many take the loss of each young man or woman in the defense of our small nation so precariously perched at the edge of the Mediterranean Sea at its eastern edge with nothing but enemies desiring to kill every last Israeli as their holy mission. It was speaking for the nation which has been deeply wounded that Prime Minister Netanyahu stated to the media and the nation filled with mourners this day stating, “Those who committed these acts will pay the full price for their actions. For a long time Iran has been using Hezbollah to establish a terror front against us on the Golan. We are aggressively acting to prevent this. The government of Lebanon and the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria are responsible for attacks on Israel that emerge from their territory. Our single goal is to defend Israel and Israelis. We have acted this way in the past, and will continue to do so.”

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Prosecutor’s Fate Mirrors Western Culture

 

Yesterday’s article about the reported suicide death of Alberto Nisman, the Argentine prosecutor investigating the terrorist strike on the 1994 bombing of the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA), did our best to convey our suspicions that suicide was the least likely manner in which he lost his life. First thing with the sun rising over the Rocky Mountains came the first inklings that perhaps Alberto Nisman had not taken his own life. There were his friends who related that he was a positive and upbeat individual who loved life and lived it well. This added to the fact that his death came mere hours before he was scheduled to appear before the Congress of the Argentine Nation to give witness on the progress and particulars of his probe into the greatest singular crime of the last century. Adding to the evidence against his committing suicide his appearances in an interview where he appeared to be really looking forward to this appearance where he had stated that his investigation against Kirchner was “likely to kill me,” horribly prophetic. Well, the initial reaction in Argentina was anything but passive as friends, coworkers and the general public were all up in arms demanding a more thorough investigation be made into the suspicious death of this prosecutorial investigator. Slowly the day passed and the evidence slowly put to lie the suicide theory as the cause of death of Prosecutor Alberto Nisman. The first evidence beyond the fact that Alberto Nisman was an unlikely candidate to have committed suicide was the admission that there was no suicide note left, a sure sign against suicide as the note is much more than a simple Hollywood convention. The final knife in the heart was the fact that the firearm found in the room did not belong to Alberto Nisman and everybody knows that one would find it rather difficult to borrow a friend’s handgun with which to commit suicide. By the end of the day yesterday the Argentine government had turned from blaming the death of Prosecutor Alberto Nisman on a suicide into making it the next urgent investigation for the Argentine Prosecutors Office.

 

The problems with the investigation by Alberto Nisman are that it was making some powerful people uncomfortable. The fact that those people included the present and a past President of Argentina, former President Carlos Menem and current President Cristina Kirchne, made it a very poor move if personal longevity is one of your desired aims. Alberto Nisman was a man of fate, truth and integrity who went where the facts led him and damn the implications and potential to make people of power feel threatened and thus very uncomfortable by his findings. The fact that his investigation had also led to include Iran, Hezballah and the clandestine relations between certain political entities and Faustian deals over oil and influence and he boldly went where no man had before chasing only the truth. He knew the costs could be high and that the information he had gathered and their implications might even lead to his being murdered but he kept with his faith that such was not possible because Argentine society was not that of some tin pot dictatorship or third rate banana republic but a modern democracy under the rule of law. Unfortunately for Alberto Nisman somebody somewhere whose toes he had trod upon did not hold such a high view of the nation and the supremacy of the rule of law as he ended up dead on the floor of his room by a strange firearm mere hours before making witness to some truths before the national Congress where those secrets he had uncovered were about to be revealed and placed under the light of day and made clear for the eyes of the nation and the world. Now he had been silenced which only adds one more crime to the list of crimes Alberto Nisman had investigated, and also made a strong statement which those who will be tasked with investigating his death and those who will be assigned to complete his investigations will keep foremost in their minds as they carefully tread around implying any people of influence as they will never know for sure if that person is the same who already bought silence with the death of a human being. Nobody will desire these posts and whoever is so tasked may consider finding a new line of work rather than take such a risky tasking. Hopefully there will be another person of courage and dedication which is at least of a similar bravery that Alberto Nisman displayed and an immutable nerve to chase truth and do that which is required to complete the task with honesty, integrity and a thoroughness and toughness which casts all other concerns aside following down every lead to its final arrow which flies truly to home in on those guilty of crimes against the state and the AMIA bombings. Where such a person can be found is a hard task to answer as people such as Alberto Nisman are a rare and precious breed.

 

The fact that a man of such integrity and honesty was laid waste in a moment of selfish thuggery is a sad commentary of our world. That there was someone of high rank and influence would sink to murder a countryman even if they called upon a person of lesser morals, though which would have been the person of lesser morals is questionable, and take the life of a modern day knight who only sought to complete his assignment to its conclusion and follow the truths where they would take him is a sad testimony, period. Western society used to have leaders who would have simply taken the accusation and at the least made a deal to tell all and resign quietly melting into obscurity with their reputation ruined and reaping the scorn of their countrymen. Apparently holding on to the trappings has become more important to some in whom the people have chosen to place their trust and such a person betraying the people’s trust by the taking of the life of a public servant who was doing what the people through their government had tasked him to perform is one of the saddest accusations against those who are offered up as a valid choice to lead one of the democratic nations in our modern world. Murder to silence an accusation was something expected in monarchies, dictatorships and other lesser forms of governments and certainly not of a democratically elected governance, yet that is what we have witnessed yesterday in Argentina. The fact the there were likely also terrorist entities involved and that some of those very terrorist entities may now be placed in high and honorable positions within the government of Iran does introduce another angle which must be considered. There is little doubt that there was probably involvement in the AMIA bombing of Hezballah and Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) which train and occupy a town in the tri-border (Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay intersecting region) area in South America and the central area for terrorist activities in the Western Hemisphere and that these also may have had some part in the assassination of Alberto Nisman. The IRGC and especially the al-Quds force, which is the special forces units of the IRGC, are also a training and testing grounds for promotion into high level government positions within the Iranian theocracy such as Mohsen Rabbani who was the cultural attaché of the Iranian embassy in Buenos Aires and has since been promoted to head the Oriental Thought Cultural Institute in Qom, Iran after having started in the IRGC. Even had the assassination of Alberto Nisman been carried out by Hezballah, a probability which cannot be ignored, there was still likely somebody within the Argentine government or well connected to the current government who would have arranged the infiltration of the Hezballah terrorist who performed the strike and then facilitated the exit before the dawn revealed the results of the deed. Any way that this horrific crime was carried out it reflects on the barbarity which still remains in the halls of power even in the democratic institutions of the modern world. Such a commentary on our modern world places into question exactly how modern that world really is. Obviously we have yet to grow beyond the self-preservation which often reveals the worst side of any of us but when it involves somebody in high office in whom a great amount of trust has been placed by the people all the more difficult it is to swallow that bitter pill.

 

Let us pray that the murderer of Alberto Nisman is brought to justice and all involved in what is very likely a web of intrigue, criminality and depravity involving who knows how many people of immoral criminals. May another prosecutor who takes their pursuit of truth and deep faith in the law have the desire to find the hidden truth and then bring those involved in the massacre of 85 people and the injuring of 300 others in the horrific crime to be finally brought to trial and to justice and forced to pay for their heinous crimes. We should also hope that the murderer of Alberto Nisman and any accomplices both before and after the act be rounded up and face the cold judgment of the court and be made to pay for the crime of murder for the sake of denying justice and depriving the people of Argentina of a hero of heroes in the offices of the prosecutors which was exemplified by Alberto Nisman like few have done before and likely few will accomplish going forward though such is in short supply and never more needed than in the unraveling of the tangled web woven from murder and deceit. There is a hole in the fabric that is Argentina and that hole will be difficult to mend as it is the hole made by the loss of a truly complete and honest servant of the people and of law and the order it produces for their society, a hole which takes time and others of equal or greater firmness in tackling the challenges of toeing the straight line of following the truth wherever it may lead, sometimes truth is the most difficult of things to hold oneself to following. Good luck Argentina as you now have the unenviable task of setting to not only finding the murderer of an honest public servant but also the finding of a straight and honest man who is willing to follow leads wherever they should lead, and able to discern truth from obfuscations, but also having the intelligence to find the minutia and the obscured and from then piece together the whole cloth from which they were severed and torn in an attempt to keep any investigator chasing their tail in circles made of smoke, mirrors and the fog of concealment mixed with the confusion intended to dizzy even the straightest of men such that no one could conceivably make sense and rooting the truth whence it was buried. One need be intelligent and stalwart with a singularity of purpose to complete the task for which Alberto Nisman was murdered. Unfortunately, the powers that be are more likely to seek the Argentine version of Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau than they are Sherlock Holmes or better yet, another Alberto Nisman, the best choice of all.

 

Beyond the Cusp